Lexar 133x Family – 05.22.06

I know what youâ€™re saying, faster cards, why? True, they really donâ€™t speed up the actual process of the camera writing files to the card (technically there is an increase but itâ€™s negligible at best). The REAL benefit of the 133x cards is when you upload images to your computer. You can see the basic time saving here:

4GB 133x CFPro Reader 11.64mps
32 card bus reader 9.46mps

4GB 80x CFPro Reader 8.17mps
32 card bus reader 8.78mps

But thatâ€™s not really the big difference for me. Normally when I come in from a shoot, I have a minimum of two cards to upload and quite often four. The ability to slam four 133x CF cards into the Pro Card Reader, have DigitalPro automatically launch, Card Load dialog appear, a couple of clicks and then being able to walk away while the computer sucks up ALL the images from the FOUR cards saves me as much as THIRTY minutes of time. To me, thatâ€™s HUGE!

Where does the big time saving come from? First, the actual speed of the 133x card and the controller in the Pro Card Reader. That in itself when uploading just one card you can see readily. The big time savings comes from not having to watch the computer for when one card is done and itâ€™s time to feed it another. Since DigitalPro uploads cards in the background, I can do other tasks with the computer or other chores so once the images are all uploaded, Iâ€™m ready to sit down and go through them.

I feel that any tool, technique or product that can minimize a photographers time doing menial tasks so they can get back out behind the camera, where time counts, is a must have. Yes, I have â€œoldâ€? cards that just sit in a drawer in the process of buying the latest and greatest. I now have more in that drawer because the investment Iâ€™ve made in the 133x cards puts time back in the day to be behind the camera! That makes these great cards!